


Desert Gold

by bracus09



Series: ABC SEAL Team Whump [4]
Category: SEAL Team (TV)
Genre: Clay Spenser Whump, Desert, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:06:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23482837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bracus09/pseuds/bracus09
Summary: When a family's social media post creates a mission that one of Bravo may not survive.
Series: ABC SEAL Team Whump [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1611082
Comments: 40
Kudos: 160





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello Everyone!
> 
> Hope everyone is staying home, staying safe and staying healthy!
> 
> Here is "D" of the ABC SEAL Team Whump, which is for Drowning.
> 
> Enjoy!

The Atacama Desert in northern Chile and southern Peru is the driest desert outside of the polar deserts. The desert is on a high plateau, located at the foothills of the Andes Mountains and with the Humbodlt Ocean Current, the area can go over a century without rainfall.

Brewing just off the coast, a high-pressure system that usually keeps storms from moving northward is weakening and starting to shift the pressure system to the east, bringing with it a storm that hasn’t been seen in over 500 years to the desert.

***

Bravo team was sitting in the back of the C-17 in Asuncion, Paraguay, waiting for the plane to finish loading before they could take off for the States. They had just wrapped up a mission in the Triple Frontier region of South America. All three countries, Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay had come together to get rid of one of the biggest drug lords, Benedicto Vargas. He had been running all sorts of contraband; drugs, weapons, sex trafficking. You name it, this son-of-a-bitch has run it across the collective borders.

The CIA got involved, when Vargas captured and tortured to death an American DEA agent that got a little too close to cracking his pattern for shuttling cocaine to the United States. They had successfully captured the scumbag and already sent him on a flight to face the music. The local governments tried to overrule the extradition order, but with the way these slime-balls line the pockets of politicians, the US government thought it would be best to hold the trial in the US courts in New York, just like El Chappo.

Everyone was making sure their individual kits were strapped down and were getting ready to sit down to crack some beers open and celebrate a successful mission.

Just as everyone sat down and popped open their beverages, Blackburn and Davis came up the ramp together. “Hold off on drinking those beers, gentlemen, we have an additional op before we get sent back to the States.”

“You shittin’ me?” Sonny said. “I’m not pourin’ out my beer. Major party foul.”

“Put your sippy cup down Sonny,” Jason replied before looking at Blackburn. “What’s the sitrep?”

“Gather around boys,” Lisa said, pulling a laptop close so that she could pull up images for the guys to look at.

“What we looking at?” Ray asked, everyone gathered around the one laptop.

“You are looking at American citizens, Evan Patterson and his family. His wife, Janette, his thirteen-year-old son, Charlie, and nine-year-old daughter, Gracie. They were in Chile on vacation, visiting San Pedro de Atacama in the Atacama Desert.” Davis pulled up images of their social media accounts. “They had visited the El Tatio Geysers, Termas Banos de Puritama rock pools, and also did some ATV riding.”

“Okay, just wonderin’, but who vacations in a place that is full of sand and has desert in the name?” Sonny asked.

“Not everyone’s vacation is an all week stay the Boom Boom Room.” Lisa fired back, causing all the guys to let out a few chuckles at Sonny’s expense.

“So, American family on vacation. Why are we going on an op for them?” Clay went ahead and asked.

“This is the reason.” Lisa clicked on a security footage image from a restaurant. 

The Patterson family was in the corner of the security footage, talking and laughing like any normal family would on vacation. Suddenly, three masked gunmen came into the restaurant, waving handguns in people’s faces. They didn’t hesitate to go to the back corner where the Patterson family sat there stunned, looking up in disbelief at what was occurring. Both adults quickly put their hands up, but Gracie grabbed on to her mom with tears running down her face, and Charlie scooted over to his father’s side. Two of the masked gunmen each grabbed Evan and Janette by their upper arms and started dragging them from their seats. Evan and Janette wrapped their free arms around their children and allowed themselves to be pulled from the building. The camera switched over to an outside view where a white paneled van was sitting with another masked gunman sat in the driver’s seat with the motor running. The family was quickly loaded into the van, along with the gunmen and then it sped out of the alleyway and into traffic.

“What do we have to go on? Who took them? Where did they take them? Why did they take them?” Jason asked.

“Well, motive was the easy to find.” Davis responded as she flipped to a different screen. On the screen showed Evan Patterson standing behind his two children. Each child was holding a gold nugget between their fingers about the size of a dime.

“Woowee, where do I get myself on of those?” Sonny questioned.

“In the middle of the desert you were just complaining about,” Davis replied. “From their social media post, while the family was ATVing in the desert, they came across one of the old gold mines in the desert and apparently found a few nuggets. They posted this on social media, and it has been shared 1.2 million times.”

“And let me guess, someone over here saw the post and thought they could get some more where those came from.” Ray guessed with a smirk.

“And the prize goes to Bravo 2.” Davis smirked back at him. “We are trying to find the who and where right now, but we are wheels up in 10 to get to Calama Airport, and then we have an hour drive to their last known location, San Pedro de Atacama.”

“Alright gentlemen, make sure everything is loaded and tied down and we will take off to Chile.” Blackburn dismissed Bravo to get ready for the unexpected extension of their South American tour.

***

Bravo, Blackburn and Davis were in two SUVs heading towards San Pedro de Atacama, and they were hoping they had more information now than when they took off from Paraguay. 

As they pulled into San Pedro’s City Hall that also acted as the police station, library and the hospital shared the parking lot with them, they were greeted by the Mayor and Police Chief as they exited their vehicles and headed up the stairs.

In heavily accented English, the Mayor greeted the group, “Thank you for coming so quickly. I’m Facundo Prieto, and this is my Chief of Police, Ramon Blanco.”

Blackburn stepped forward to shake the Mayor’s and Police Chief’s hands, “Lt. Commander Blackburn, and this is Master Chief Hayes. He will be leading the rescue mission.”

Jason stepped forward and shook both Facundo’s and Ramon’s hands also. “Do we have any new leads?”

“Si, we ran the license plate of the van.” Ramon stated as everyone followed him to a conference room where there were a few computer monitors from the early 2000’s and chalk boards. “It came back to an employee of The Chemical and Mining Society of Chile Soquimich.”

Sonny stood in the back with Clay and muttered to him, “Goldilocks, dare you to say that five times fast.”

Clay gave Sonny a side-eye glance but smirked while still paying attention to what was being said at the front of the room.

Oblivious to the conversation in the back of the room, Ramon continued, “The Soquimich was involved in a fraud case that involved issuing fake invoices to fund political campaigns between 2009 and 2014. In 2018, three major players were prosecuted. This particular employee was directly under Soquimich director Patricio Contesse.”

“Okay, so does Patricio know anything about the van?” Jason asked, staring down the police chief.

“We had officers go to his house, and no one was home.” Ramon answered.

Jason looked back at Blackburn and Davis, “Now that’s not suspicious at all.”

“So, we have the motive, we have a possibility of who, now we just need to know the where.” Blackburn summed up the intel.

Facundo spoke up, “The main mine is the Escondida copper-gold-silver mine. But it is about 240 kilometers away. It is a working business, so it wouldn’t be a place for tourists to go.”

“But there are some old mines about 32 kilometers southeast from here. They were closed in the 1880’s after they dried up, but a lot of tourists like to ride ATVs out there and take pictures.” Ramon explained.

Ray turned to Lisa, “Can you look up the Patterson’s social media pictures and see if they have any of the old mines in the background?”

Lisa plopped herself down at the table, flipped open her laptop, and started typing away. It took her just a minute of flipping before she turned the laptop around so Bravo team could see it.  
The picture displayed was a family selfie, with four smiling faces. Behind them was a boarded-up mine, that looked like it has seen better days.

“We need the location of that mine.” Jason said, pointing to the screen and looking at Ramon.

“Si, let me grab a map for you.” Ramon left the room to grab the map, leaving Facundo to stand there and ring his hands.

Clay walked up to the laptop and looked at Lisa, silently asking permission to work the settings of the picture.

With a nod of permission, Clay swung the laptop around and tapped on the keyboard, zooming in on the background of the picture. In the background on the left-hand side of the picture, Bravo could see where one of the boards that closed off the mine had broken off and left a hole big for a person to slip through.

Clay flipped the laptop back around and showed the rest of the team. “What do you want to bet that they found a vein, picked out those nuggets, from somewhere in that mine?”

“You’re nuttier than a squirrel turd if you think we are dumb enough to take that bet.” Sonny stated lightly slapping Clay’s shoulder.

“Jock up, boys. We have a family to save.” Blackburn stated, with everyone of Bravo nodding their heads in agreement.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And it's go time for Bravo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, hoping everyone is staying safe out there!
> 
> Enjoy!

Twenty miles south, torrential rain poured down on the Atacama Desert, with accumulations of only one to two inches in 24 hours. Unfortunately, this was the first rainfall in many centuries to the area. In the Andes mountains, there was a naturally made dam from over a thousand years. As the rain came down and started to funnel into ancient riverbeds, the mud began to soak up the water, and it started to soften the dam and it began to wear away.

***

Bravo team had commandeered a ride on the Chinook police helicopter southeast into the desert towards the mine. They would have to hike the last 5-6 miles to the mine because Bravo had no idea if the family and their abductors were outside the mine or in the tunnels. The helicopter would wait for their return with the family and then return to San Pedro.

The team set out with a purpose and headed towards the mine. It was late afternoon, and they had just a few more hours of sunlight left before they would be in the pitch-dark desert.

“It is hotter than a goat’s butt in a pepper patch.” Sonny complained from the back of the line of Bravo.

Trent turned around to look at the Texan, “It’s the desert. What did you thick the temperature would feel like?”

“If I had my druthers, I would be sippin’ some tequila in a bar right now.” Sonny panted and followed everyone else.

Clay was on point, setting a good pace, to reach the mine in less than a half hour. Behind him was Ray, Jason, Trent, Brock without Cerb, and Sonny bringing up the rear.

Most people would think the desert would have just been flat ground with some sand dunes, but the Atacama Desert was at the base of the Andes Mountains, so there were foothills and ravines, gullies and dry riverbeds from millennia ago.

About a mile away from the mine, Jason checked in, “Havoc, this is Bravo 1. One clicks out from target location.”

“Copy, Bravo 1.” Blackburn replied over the comms.

The mine entrance was in the hillside, so they approached from the left side. As they rounded the curve of the foothill to the mine entrance, there sitting next to the entrance were four 4-seater ATV buggies. This just confirmed that they were headed in the right direction. 

“Havoc, we have 4 ATVs that can sit about 16 people. Assumption is we have 12 tangos on site.” Jason updated.

“Copy, Bravo 1. When you enter, we will probably lose comms. Be careful.” Lisa stated, before the men entered.

“Copy, Havoc.” Jason stated.

As the team continued to the entrance, the sun was just setting over the tops of some of the tallest mountains. Clay peeked around the corner and there was only one person guarding the entrance to the mine. Clay motioned to the team behind him before he peeked around the corner and shot the tango with his silenced gun.

The tango fell silently to the ground as Clay advanced to the mine entrance. Once they had three men on each side of the mine entrance, that the tangos had pulled down all the boards blocking the entrance, they started down the main tunnel. Everyone was being cautious as the tunnel was narrow enough that they had to stay single file on one side, or they would just be opening themselves for a slaughter. As they continued into the tunnel, they flipped down their NODs, as there was minimal light. 

Bravo team continued to down the tunnel, with Jason having Brock drop a glow stick every 50 or so feet. Davis had tried her hardest to search for maps of the mine, but unfortunately a mine from the 1880’s would have paper maps, and since it closed before the digital age, there was nothing online. If they didn’t have to worry about a family’s lives, they would have taken some time to see if they could find them in the city’s chronicled archives, but they didn’t have that luxury.

With every tunnel that came back cleared with no one in it, Trent would put an “X” by the tunnel that they could see with their NODS on. They finally arrived at a tunnel that had some light coming down it along with noises. What stood out the most to Bravo is that they had encountered no resistance through the tunnels. The one tango at the entrance was it. That meant eleven tangos and the family of four.

They stopped at the bend before they entered a brightly lit section of tunnel. Ray was in the lead with Clay and peeked into the tunnel. Sonny glanced at the supporting beams that was holding the tunnel up, and saw a big spider crawling up the beam. He looked across at Trent and shivered. Trent saw Sonny’s reaction and smirked.

There were three of the eleven tangos guarding the family that was huddled in the corner of the tunnel. Evan was trying to hide his wife and kids behind himself, and Janette was wrapping both her children in her arms. Charlie was trying to put a tough face, but you could see that terror that was in his eyes because he understood the severity of the situation his family was in. Gracie was huddled up against her mother, silent tears running down her cheeks, her sobs long since stifled after being yelled at to shut up. There was seven men that were shifting dirt and using pickaxes to work on a collapse tunnel. The guns with the workers were leaning against an intact section of tunnel wall. The light from the battery-powered lanterns were glinting off a sparking gold vein exposed by the tunnel collapse. Overseeing both the workers and the guards, was Patricio Contesse.

With quick whispers, they got their plan in place. They were going to come around the tunnel corner and target the guards first. Clay, Ray and Sonny had already called their shots, and after downing the guards, they were going to protect the Patterson’s. Jason, Trent and Brock were going to concentrate on the workers, as they were next to their weapons. They’re orders were to shoot anyone who reached for a gun, and they had the element of surprise on their hands. Finally, they were going to keep Patricio in their sights. As of right now, it appeared that Patricio was unarmed, but he could quickly pull a concealed weapon out from anywhere.

Jason did his usual countdown, “Three, two, one… execute.”

Bravo quickly funneled into the collapsed section of tunnel. The three guards were the first to meet their end, and Clay and Sonny kicked the guns out of reach of the downed tangos and stood in front of the hostages. Ray continued to cover Patricio, knowing his brothers had the Patterson’s safe. Jason, Trent and Brock went to the other side of the collapsed tunnel and quickly shot down four of the seven workers that reached for the weapons nearby. Of the three workers left, two tried to run by Bravo, and they were quickly put down. One stood with his hands in the air and moved toward Patricio.

Ray kept his gun steady as he approached Patricio, who was yelling in Spanish, but quickly put his hands up. He and his remaining employee stood with their back to a tunnel wall with Ray and Brock each keeping their guns trained on them.

Jason and Trent quickly approached the Patterson family, and started to help Clay and Sonny with untying their hands and feet. Evan quickly swept his children up in a hug as well as reached for his wife. Janette was also reaching for her children and husband and was sobbing tears of joy. Both children had tears in their eyes as they were able to finally hug their parents.

“We are American Military. We are here to take you home.” Jason stated as he helped Janette to her feet.

“Is anyone injured?” Trent asked, giving each hostage a once over, looking for any visual signs.

“No, just some scrapes and bruises.” Evan said, standing and approaching Jason with his hand outstretched to shake. “Thank you so much.”  
“Let’s get you guys out of here, then I’ll shake your hand.” Jason smirked at the Patterson’s. He turned to look at Ray and Trent. “Cuff them and let’s get out of here.” 

Ray and Trent approached to do as ordered, when both Patricio and the last tango both reached to the small of their backs. Without hesitation, both fired their weapons and dropped the last two.

Bravo stood and observed the carnage they caused. While Clay was helping to gently push the hostages in the direction of the exit, Sonny turned to the rest of the group, “Well, that was anticlimactic. Almost boring.”

Brock took the lead and smirked at Sonny’s comment. Jason was behind Brock with the Patterson’s following him. Rounding out the back was Clay, Trent, Ray and Sonny bringing up the rear. As Ray and Sonny walked through the doorway, Sonny noticed the huge as spider was still on the support beam. He stopped for a moment and looked at the spider that just twitched minutely. Ray, realizing Sonny wasn’t right on his six, turned to look and see what caught Bravo 3’s attention.

Ray watched as Sonny smirked, “Take this you ugly fucker,” and then lifted his boot, stretching his limits on hamstring flexibility, and kicked his boot out to squish the spider against the support beam. Upon kicking the beam, it crumbled under the onslaught of Sonny’s boot, and dirt from the sealing started coming down. Sonny quickly exited the tunnel out to where Ray was standing and giving him the ‘I’m disappointed in you,’ stare. Just as he reached Ray, the whole tunnel collapsed.

“Really Sonny? A spider?” Ray asked exasperated.

“It looked at me funny.” Sonny defended himself and started down the tunnel to the exit.

“With all eight eyes?” Ray responded, with a roll of his own eyes as he followed after Sonny. “You are unbelievable.”

Sonny just grinned back at his 2IC and picked up his pace to follow behind Trent.

Brock followed their glow stick trail until they got to the entrance of the mine without any entrance. He made sure before he exited that no other tangos had shown up while they were in the tunnel. Seeing as the area was clear, he continued out of the tunnel entrance followed by the Patterson’s and the rest of Bravo.

By now, the sun had dropped below the horizon and night was upon them. Jason quickly radioed into Havoc now that they were out of the tunnel system. “Havoc, this is Bravo 1. We have Jackpot.”

“Copy Bravo 1. What is their condition?” Blackburn asked through the comms.

“Everyone just has bumps, bruises and scrapes.” Trent replied.

“Good to hear, Bravo 4. What of our tangos?” Blackburn replied.

“Patricio Contesse was here along with eleven others. All will not see tomorrow’s sunrise.” Jason confirmed.

“Copy, Bravo.” Blackburn confirmed. “Helo is at the same location, waiting to bring everyone back.”

“Copy, Havoc. Will update when we reach the helo.” Jason confirmed before motioning for everyone to continue to the path they used to come to the mine.

“Boss, just wonderin’, but why can’t we use the buggies?” Sonny asked. “Would save us time and having to climb back up some of those hills we had to climb the first time.”

“Bravo 3, it sounds like you need some exercise for that beer I know you didn’t pour out.” Jason said, smirking in Sonny’s direction. “Besides, none of us have the keys and there would be no way for them to navigate the rocky hills to get the helo. We are hiking. Is that an issue?”

“Nope. Hiking the next five miles makes me happier than a puppy with two peters.” Sonny grumbled as he walked by Jason, who couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

Clay was walking ahead and was talking with the two children pointing out items of interest. Sometimes using the Spanish word and then explaining what it was. The kids, even after a traumatizing situation, was fascinated as Clay explained more things about the desert than they heard for their entire vacation.

“Those are lomas, which means hills.” Clay pointed out towards where they were heading. “And this,” Clay pointed to the dry wash and continued to explain their surroundings, “Is cauce seco, or a dry riverbed. There have been some studies that think there are areas of the desert that hasn’t seen significant rain since the Triassic era.”

“So, with dinosaurs were the last time to see rain here.” Gracie saddled up to Clay’s side.

“Possibly.” Clay smiled down at the little girl. “If these were anywhere else, when snow melt after winter, they fill up with snow melt water and they become very deep and very dangerous, and people have been known to get hurt or die.”

“Thank you for the lesson, Professor Spenser,” Sonny complained as he was ahead of Clay and the children. “I needed to know that like I needed a hole in my head.”

Clay looked down at the children, smiled and winked. “He’s just frustrated that I’m smarter than him.”

This set the children off giggling at Sonny’s expense, and then they started to ask about the various plants and tree-looking things they were passing on the way to the helo. Gracie held on to Clay’s hand, gazing up at clay in rapt adoration of this curly, blonde haired man that came to her rescue. Charlie, who was a freshly turned teenager, was too mature to like learning new information about the desert, but he stayed close to the blonde SEAL as well, listening intently to every fact that Clay was spewing.

“Sir, I’m getting tired.” Gracie complained.

“Well, here you go, Little Lady,” he teased, scooping the little girl up and giving her a piggyback ride.

“Sir, you can’t carry her the whole way,” Evan said, trying to come over to take her off Clay.

Ray glanced over at the dad. “Mr. Patterson, when is the last time you ate, slept, had any water?”

Evan looked over at his wife Janette, who shook her head. “Sometime before we were abducted.”

“You are all exhausted and we still have four more clicks before we get to the helo.” Jason explained. “Let her rest up for a bit.”

Evan just shook his head as he grabbed onto his wife and trailed along behind Clay, listening to him play tour guide to the two kids.

“I had no idea he knew so much about this stuff,” Trent murmured to Brock.

“All that time in Africa made him a nerd,” Brock replied drily.

Clay looked behind him, “I heard that. And I had a full encyclopedia set at my grandparents’ mission.”

“Where did you grow up, sir?” Charlie asked.

Clay hesitated. He didn’t really talk about how he grew up even around the team, so he stuck to the basics. “My grandparents’ were missionaries and I grew up with them in Liberia.”

“Wow, that must be have been so cool,” Gracie said enthusiastically.

Clay had several reasons why he would disagree with her statement, but he didn’t really want to have to explain to the children or his team what it was like growing up, so he remained silent and kept walking.

Bravo tensed at the little girl’s question, knowing their Kid’s perchance for avoiding anything about his childhood, but when Clay calmly answered the girl without getting upset, so everyone relaxed and continued walking.

After about three miles of steady hiking, the Patterson were all tired. Being abducted during their dinner, being held hostage and threatened for close to 24 hours, and then their rescue, they had every reason to be tired. Jason found a spot reasonably clear of rocks and short cacti to have a short 15-minute break to regain their strength.

Bravo unhooked their extra canteens and passed it around the Patterson’s so they could get some water in their systems. Trent dug around in his pack and came out with a fewer power bars that he passed around to the family too. The Patterson’s were very grateful for the food and the water.

Everyone glanced up as they saw a bolt of lightening light up the sky in the distance, with the thunder soon following.

“Hey Einstein! Thought you said there wasn’t any rain in the desert.” Sonny stated, also looking in the direction of the lightening.

“There can be lightening without rain, Sonny.” Clay easily replied.

“Now you’re just making things up.” Sonny tried to defend.

Clay just rolled his eyes and ignored him.  
While everyone was drinking and eating, Clay pointed out the dry wash to the kids. “Look at those boulders. Millenia ago, they were probably buried and the water that did come through here would wear away the sides and make them smooth. It will probably take many more eons for them to be uncovered completely.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Charlie said, wishing he could take a closer look, but he knew the men and his parents would never let them get too far away from them. Finally, all the adults’ attention were in their own conversation, which allowed the kids to wander further down the dry riverbed.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the mission gets wet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoping everyone is staying safe and well in these uncertain times.
> 
> Now on to the whump. :)
> 
> Enjoy!

Further South, the artificial dam began to break away and then as more and more water gathered behind it and started pouring through it and began to crumble faster, finally letting go. The mountain of water piled behind began to crash down the riverbed. The rumbling from the water could be heard for miles, as it rushed towards an unsuspecting Bravo team.

***

Charlie and Gracie could see their parents and the SEALs, so they were unconcerned about the distance they had put between them and the team. Charlie sidled closer to the edge of the riverbed and peeked down. “This is cool. Those cauce seco...” he said finally remembering the correct word. “They almost look like stair steps.”

Gracie shrugged, “They look just like big rocks.”

“Well, how come you thought they’re so cool when Mr. Blondie talked about them?” Charlie teased.

The little girl’s eyes turned big and wide, “’Cause he makes it interesting.”

Charlie laughed at her and Gracie stuck her tongue out at her older brother.

Charlie glanced at the adults, who were still engrossed in their own conversations. “I’m gonna go down there and take a closer look.”

“No Charlie,” Gracie said backing hastily away. “He said they weren’t safe.”

“He said in different areas of the world it could be dangerous, but this desert hadn’t had rain in centuries. There’s nothin’ to be scared of,” He taunted.

“I’m going back to Mom and Dad.” Gracie said, looking hesitant.

Charlie frowned, “I’ll tell Mr. Blondie you have a crush on him.”

“So, he gave me a piggyback ride.” She threw back at him.

Charlie knew if Gracie went back to the adults, she’d tattle unless she went down with him. “I’ll tell him you really don’t care about the stuff he’s teaching us. He’ll be disappointed.” He hedged, casting a sidelong look at his little sister to see if it had the desired effect. Gracie was chewing her lip. She looked just like Mom when she did that, but he recognized the gesture, indecision. He gave one more little push. “He probably won’t give you any more piggyback rides.”

“Well… okay, but just for a minute. We need to leave soon.” Gracie caved.

Charlie glanced over, and made sure that no one was looking, before climbing down and wandering up the riverbed.

Bravo was talking about how exfil was going and were keeping a close eye on the lightning that seems to be getting closer to their location. If it got too close, they wouldn’t be able to fly out on the helo. Evan and Janette were in each other’s arms, glancing over to where their children were looking at the riverbed periodically to be sure they were staying close.

Clay’s eyes wondered over to the two children, or where the children should have been. He suddenly sat up straighter, and Jason immediately looked him.

“What is it?” Jason asked.

“Where are the kids?” Clay asked back.

Bravo and the parents both got to their feet, looking in the different directions.

Clay immediately looked toward the dry wash. “You don’t think they would go into the riverbed? Even after I told them they are dangerous?”

Brock immediately reached into his pack and pulled out a rope as Bravo team ran to the edge.

Clay got there first. He saw the kids about thirty yards further up the riverbed. One glance at the parents, had him hiding a smirk. ‘Oh boy, by the look on Evan’s face, Charlie and Gracie are in big trouble.’

“Charlie! Gracie!” Evan yelled.

Both children looked up. Their father looked furious and their mother looked terrified. The SEAL team looked annoyed and irritated. 

“Uh oh,” Charlie said in dismay.

Tears welled up in Gracie’s eyes. “Now Mom and Dad are going to be mad, and it’s all your fault,” she sniffled.

Clay smirked at his boss, “I’ll go down and hand them up.” He grabbed the rope out of Brock’s hand and handed the end of the rope to Sonny. “Can you tie off the rope on that boulder?”

“Those kids don’t have the sense that God gave an ant.” Sonny grumbled as the rolling rumbling of thunder reached them, tying off the line that Clay had over his shoulder.

Clay began to feel uneasy. The storm was still too far away for the thunder to be that loud. He shook the thought away and lowered himself down, making his way down into the riverbed. 

Charlie was sauntering toward him, hands in his pockets and dragging his feet, but Gracie remained where she was, weeping inconsolably because her parents would be so mad at her.

Clay met Charlie partway. “You know what you did was irresponsible?”

“I know,” Charlie murmured. He kicked a rock and shuffled forward head down.

Charlie looked so pitiful; Clay had to work on not smiling at the kid’s face. He grabbed Charlie’s hand and helped pull Charlie up to where he was standing, grabbed him under the armpits, stepped up on a pile of rocks and boosted him up to waiting hands. The dark looks on Evan’s face promised a dressing down.

“I’ll go get Gracie,” Clay said, not wanting to be around when the heavy hand of retribution fell. And he wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of Jason’s lecture either. Been there, done that.

Clay started back up the riverbed at a slight jog as the little girl began to walk slowly in his direction, but the rumbling sound again caught his attention. It seemed to be getting louder. “That’s not thunder… what could it be?” he muttered to himself. He heard that sound before, but where?

He finally reached Gracie. “Come on Sweetie, let’s get going.” As he picked her up, he noticed a small trickle of water about 2 feet away, catching the light from his helmet.

Water? He threw a glance back to where the rest of the team stood, looking for the rumbling noise that wasn’t thunder. Suddenly, he remembered a rainy season when he was a child in Liberia that caused a flash flood. Clay quickly reached for his comms as he began to run. “Bravo 1, flash flood.”

“What’s wrong?” Gracie sobbed with fright as she bobbed along in Clay’s arms. She’d seen the look of fear in his eyes.

“Nothing, Sweetie, nothing,” Clay panted, but never slowing down.

Jason heard Bravo 6’s breathy warning of flash flood and glanced up the dry riverbed. About a mile away, Bravo team could see the rushing water pouring down the channel, and Clay and Gracie were in its path.

Sonny quickly started to grab the rope and was going to begin to climb down.

“Stay there!” Clay yelled, gasping for breath. He was only a few yards away now. The water roiled closer to their location. It had become a race, and Clay had every intention of winning. He reached the rope and literally threw Gracie up to the waiting arms of Bravo, knowing they would catch her. He’d made it.

Trent was the lucky recipient of the little girl, and he quickly handed her off to her parents. All of Bravo was around the edge of the riverbed, ready to catch a hand and pull him up.

Clay grabbed the rope, he put his foot on the pile of boulders to help propel himself upwards when the boulders suddenly shifted, and Clay lost his balance. His foot slid from the rocks and lodged into a crevice between them. He fell backwards with a cry of pain. The boulders tumbled, pinning his leg. “Fuck!” he gasped as pain ripped through him from his ankle to his knee.

Clay looked up at Bravo, despair evident in his eyes. He knew he was about to die. The water was less than a half a mile away and was coming fast. There was no way the team would get him out before the water hit him. Sonny grabbed the rope. “No Sonny… no,” Clay gasped out. “Stay there. There’s no time.”

Clay’s eyes flicked to Jason, as he stood at the ledge, working the problem and coming to the same conclusion. He looked at the Patterson’s, standing and holding the children tightly against them, eyes wide in terror in realizing the fate of the SEAL. Charlie was trying to be tough, but tears were leaking down his face and Gracie was sobbing hysterically.

Sonny took one look at the team before he swung around and lowered himself over the side of the riverbed. He ignored the commands from Jason and Ray to get back up top; he had his Little Buddy to save.

“Are you crazy?” Clay shouted at Sonny, “Get out!”

The burly Texan grabbed the rope and knelt beside his pinned brother. He wrapped the rope around both Clay’s loop on the back of his tactical vest, and then reached behind him and tied it around his own. The rumbling flood was bearing down on them. Sonny reached around his younger teammate and pulled him close against his chest. He wedged himself back into an outcropping of rocks.

“Sonny, there’s still time to save yourself. You can still get out. Please Sonny. Leave!” Clay all but pleaded with him, pushing against Sonny’s chest to try to get him to leave

The older SEAL grabbed Clay’s hands and placed them on the rope. “Hold on tight, Bam Bam.” He pulled Clay’s face tight against his chest. Bravo team were still yelling at him to get out, but he couldn’t leave Clay.

“Sonny, please leave! You must go and save yourself. Davis would be crushed without you,” Clay gasped against Sonny’s chest, still trying to get him to leave him to his watery grave.

“Take a deep breath, brother.” Sonny replied.

“Sonny please leave and save yourself.” Clay begged.

The Texan tucked his head down next to Clay's, “Now would be a good time to shut up,” Sonny warned.

The water hit like a freight train, drowning out the screams of Bravo and the Patterson’s. A cold, dark tumult pounded against them trying to tear Clay from Sonny’s grip. Debris slammed into them both, it pinned Sonny against the rocks, going on and on until Sonny thought his lungs would burst and then it was past. They were left sitting in knee deep water. Sonny slumped forward, gasping for air. He eased Clay way from him and found him unconscious. Sonny finally made out the sounds of Bravo yelling at him from the edge. The water had fried his comms.

“Bravo 3!”

“Sonny!”

“I’m okay,” Sonny assured them, “But I need to help Clay,” he panted.

“Sonny! Is he breathing? And listen to his lungs!” Trent yelled down to Sonny.

Sonny laid his head against Clay’s chest. He couldn’t hear anything, explained that to Trent, but that didn’t mean he didn’t aspirate any water. He rested his hand against Clay’s chest, and he was breathing.

“Bravo 3! What’s his status!” Jason asked, concerned about Clay.

“Not sure yet,” Sonny replied as he ran his hands over Clay’s extremities, checking for any gross deformities like broken bones. He couldn’t check Clay’s one leg which was still pinned under the rocks, and his ribs felt okay, so he moved on. He ran his fingers through Clay’s hair and felt around his skull under his helmet. He felt one lump on the back of Clay’s head, just below the helmet. Something in the mud wash must have hit him. Satisfied that other than the bump, the younger man wasn’t injured any worse than he had been.

“Havoc, we got a situation.” Jason reported in.

“Bravo 1. What kind of situation?” Blackburn replied.

“Bravo 3 and 6 were caught in a flash flood. We are assessing their condition and will update on exfil.” Jason filled Blackburn in.

“Copy, Bravo 1.” Blackburn confirmed.

Jason turned to Ray, “You, Trent and Brock stay here and guard the Patterson’s. I’ll go down with Sonny and see if we can’t get him free.”

After getting a nod from Ray, Jason was quick to use the rope to climb awkwardly down the mud-slicked wall. Touching bottom, he turned and punched Sonny in the shoulder. “You are running so many hills for this stunt. Are you hurt?”

“No, just a few bruises.” Sonny turned to lightly pat his teammates cheek. “Clay? C’mon Blondie… no sleeping on the job.” He was rewarded with a low groan as Clay’s eyes fluttered open and he began to cough.

***

White, hot knives stabbed into Clay’s awareness. His leg was on fire and he couldn’t feel his foot. His head hurt and he was cold and wet. He began to groan that turned into a racking cough as the water he’d swallowed made a reappearance. After a moment, he looked up at Sonny. “Are we dead?” He asked weakly.

Both Jason and Sonny chuckled. “Not unless heaven’s a mud palace,” Sonny replied. 

“Get him sitting up! It will be easier for him to breathe if you keep his upper body out of the water as much as possible.” Trent yelled down.

Jason situated Sonny behind Clay and then moved around in front of his groggy teammate. He gently raised Clay’s chin to look into his pain filled eyes. “Still with me Bravo 6?”

“Yeah… I think so,” came the dazed reply.

“Okay, I’m leaving you two alone right now, so mind your manners children.” Jason said as Clay gave him a lop-sided smirk and Sonny attempted to wipe some mud that was sliding down his cheek off his face.

Jason examined the rocks pinning Clay’s leg. He had to get Clay out and soon. Jason knew that as soon as the raging water reached the end of the wash, the vacuum that had sucked the water with it would be broken. It would backwash and level out. Jason and Sonny would survive but Clay would drown.

“Clay, this may hurt a little,” Jason warned as he grasped the stone that trapped Clay’s leg. Sonny pulled Clay closer to him. His head rested against Sonny’s shoulder.

“You are incredibly brave and stupid, you know that right?” Sonny said as he wiped some mud off Clay’s face, looking on as Jason tried to move the rock. “But it still made me as mad as a mule chewing on bumblebees.”

Sonny was cut off as Clay screamed; his back arced and his head snapped back into Sonny’s shoulder so hard, he almost dropped him. Hearing Clay scream made the rest of Bravo shift in their places, Evan and Janette Patterson cringe and the children once again began to cry.

“Clay, I’m sorry,” Jason tried to calm his brother.

Clay was gasping for air, teeth clenched against the burn in his legs. Tears of pain mingled with the water trickling from his hair to trail down his face. His body went limp.

“Jason?” Sonny asked, looking concerned.

“He’s okay; he’s just passed out.” Jason replied.

“Did you get his leg free?” Sonny asked.

“I tried to move the rocks off his leg, but I shifted the others and they rolled back and fell on him. I’m going to try to find something to use as a lever. Keep him up for a minute.” Jason explained.

Jason stood at the base on the riverbed. “Do we have anything long and sturdy enough to use as a lever?”

They handed down the short-handled sledgehammer that was in Sonny’s pack. Jason was able to roll or lever the smaller stones away, but he couldn’t budge the last boulder pinning Clay’s leg. He tried multiple times to lever the boulder until the sledgehammer handle snapped. They were going to need some more tools to get Clay out.

“Sonny.” Sonny looked up at Jason, the terror of knowing Clay was stuck reflecting in his eyes. “Nothing we have can get him out. And I can’t risk having the rest of the team come down to help, leaving the Patterson’s unguarded.”

Sonny nodded his head, understanding what Jason is saying but not necessarily approving of it. “We aren’t leaving him here.”

“No, we aren’t leaving him here.” Jason confirmed. “This water is going to continue to rise and it’s going to get worse if that storm starts coming this way,” he said, pointing out to the lightning they could still see in the distance. “Clay’s going to drown if we can’t get him outta here. You understand?”

Sonny nodded his head, knowing this was why Jason was Bravo 1.

“We are going to double time to the chopper, get back to San Pedro where we can get equipment to free Clay, and then we can get back here to free him before the water gets too high.” Jason explained.

“I got it. Get out of here and you better bring me a beer when you return.” Sonny said as he got a better grip on Clay.

It was probably one of the hardest things Jason had ever had to do. To leave one of his men in harm’s way and knowing that time was against them. He reached over to the rope and climbed up the muddy bank to the rest of Bravo.

He immediately started barking out orders. “Trent, Brock, grab a kid. We need to speed up this hike. We are going to get to the chopper, get to San Pedro for supplies and then book it back here.”

Both men nodded and immediately reached for a kid. Ray was busy starting to herd the parents away from the two remaining men below and towards the direction the helo is. Jason immediately got on comms, “Havoc, this is Bravo 1.”

“Copy Bravo 1.” Blackburn immediately replied.

“Bravo 6 has his leg trapped by a boulder. Bravo 3 is going to stay with him to keep him out of the water as it rises. We are going to continue to exfil and fly to San Pedro. Have equipment for moving a boulder on standby. We will drop the Patterson’s off with you and then take the helo back to Bravo 6’s location.”

“Good copy Bravo 1. We will have the equipment ready and waiting for you.” Blackburn informed them, and Bravo knew that he would have it ready for them.

Before taking off, Jason got everyone’s glow-sticks, activated them and dropped them at the edge of the riverbed. It would be a good marker for the helo when they came back.

With one last look at Sonny and Clay, Jason took off towards the helicopter in a race against time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Bravo make it back in time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next chapter. Again, hoping that everyone is safe and well!

Sonny once again situated himself behind his younger brother, supporting his weight against him. “How ya doin’ Peter Pan?”  
“Okay.” Came the quiet response.

Sonny could fell Clay’s body shaking. “Blondie, what’s wrong?”

“C-c-cold,” Clay stuttered out.

‘Fuck, how could he be so stupid?’ Sonny chastised himself. The day had been warm for April, which is basically Fall for Chile, but it was now night, with temperatures in the low 50’s. Add in to the fact that Clay had been sitting in the cold, knee deep water for almost thirty minutes, Clay was shivering and probably going into shock as well.

Sonny brusquely started rubbing his brother’s arms and shoulders trying to increase his circulation and warm his body. “Hang in there, Pretty Boy. Help’s on the way.”

***

About a mile away from the helo, Jason and Ray took over carrying the kids from Trent and Brock, so that way they could continue to make good time. Overall, it took about thirty minutes to climb over the rest of the desert and get to the helicopter. Everyone was pushing themselves as they all knew Clay’s life was depending on how fast they could get back with tools to free him. Even the children understood the urgency and didn’t say a word.

As they crested over the last hill and the helo was sitting there waiting for them, Jason hear Ray whisper a soft prayer. “Havoc, we are exfilling to San Pedro.”

“Good copy, Bravo 1. Equipment is ready and waiting for you.” Lisa replied. Blackburn was making sure the equipment was next to the helicopter pad so that they could quickly load it and get back up in the air as quickly as possible.

Everyone got into the helo, made sure the Patterson’s were secure and then waved for the pilot to take off. The first part of their race against time was done. Now came the second, harder part.

***

Further south, the rain came down even harder and the rushing water reached the end of the wash, spewing up in an eruption of dirty water and debris. It then began its backwards flow into the riverbed, and it began to even out the water levels as it went.

***

Sonny watched the storm that was still rolling with an anxious eye. He could see the lightning light up the sky, but luck was on their side as no rain had started to fall yet. He kept up a running conversation with Clay, just to try to keep him awake. Clay’s head lolled on his shoulder, conscious but cold and in pain. The water was now waist high and continuing to rise. Clay’s body temperature was continuing to drop, and his teeth were chattering so hard, Sonny was afraid that they would rattle right out of his mouth.

Sonny worked his way around in front of his friend. “Pretty Boy look at me. Can you hear me?” There was a faint nod and his eyes briefly opened before fluttering closed once more. “Look, I know you’re cold and it’s making you really sleepy,” again, there was a weak nod. “But I need you to stay with me, Mr. GQ. Keep your eyes open.”

“C-c-can’t… T’red… my leg hurts.” Clay slurred as his eyes flickered open and closed, once more.

Sonny gave his shoulder a quick shake. “Wake up! Don’t go to sleep on me. It’s not nap time.” Clay’s eyes cracked open once more. “Good boy. We’re going to get you outta here, and then you will have a nice warm bed, the good pain meds and maybe we can wrangle a nice nurse to give you a bed bath.” Clay’s eyes drifted shut again. Sonny shook his shoulder again, which rocked his head on his shoulders. “Wake up Bravo 6, that’s an order.”

“Leave… me… ‘lone… Son… sleepy,” Clay gritted out through chattering teeth, but Sonny kept talking, refusing to let Clay lapse into sleep.

***

Bravo team let out a small sigh of relief as they saw the lit helicopter pad that came into view. They could see several people standing off to the side, but what was more important to them was the small pile of equipment that was sitting next to Blackburn, already dressed to come and help with Bravo.

The helo came in and as soon as Bravo felt it settle on the pad, they were out the door. Brock and Ray helped the Patterson’s exit the helo, ducking under the rotors, and leading them towards the Police Chief. Jason and Trent went straight to Blackburn and the equipment they needed to save Clay.

Over the rotor wash, Blackburn yelled, “Gathered all I could find as fast I could.”

Jason nodded and grabbed two of the bags. Trent grabbed one bag that had the classic red cross in a white circle with needed medical supplies he is hoping he won’t need and two others, one with a portable cardiac monitor and portable oxygen tank from the hospital. 

Before Jason could turn away and get back to the helo, Blackburn grabbed the last equipment bag, holding a stretcher, and followed him. “Come on, we have a wayward Kid to bring home.”

Jason just nodded and took off back to the helo with Blackburn following him. He and Blackburn handed the bags up to the team and hopped on board. As soon as they were in, the helo took off. It was going to be a long 15 minutes for the helicopter to get there. At least this time they could land closer and won’t have to hike miles to the riverbed.

***

The water was chest deep on Clay and Sonny was getting scared. Bravo team had been gone for close to an hour. What if there was some problem that came up? What else could he do to save his brother? There were too many what ifs.

“S-Sonny…” Clay stammered.

“What is it Blondezilla?” Sonny asked, leaning close to his teammate’s face.

“You n-need to get out now.” Clay tried to get Sonny to leave, again.

“No can do, Pretty Boy. I’m here for the good, the bad, and the ugly.” Sonny reassured him firmly.

“Sonny?” Clay was going to keep trying with his very last breath.

“Save your breath brother, I’m not leavin’ you.” Sonny tried to firmly shut him down.

“Y-you c-can’t help me a-anymore. W-water is risin’ too fast.” Clay’s lips were a light blue, his face was pale, and his body was shivering uncontrollably. He looked at Sonny with hopeless eyes. “T-thanks S-Sonny… You have b-been one of the g-greatest f-friends I could have a-asked f-for.”

“Shut up Clay… You are one fry short of a Happy Meal, so I’m going to ignore everything that is coming out of your mouth right now.” Sonny said, not wanting to process Clay’s obviously delirious rambling. 

“T-tell the g-guys, t-thanks for t-taking a c-chance on m-me.” Clay continued.

Sonny gave him a hard shake. “Stop it Clay. We’re gonna get ya outta of here. No brother left behind.”

“L-liar…” A small half-smile appeared on Clay’s face.

Sonny’s heart lurched in his chest. “Don’t you quit on me Little Buddy.”

“’Kay…” Clay got out.

“Promise?” Sonny asked, getting a slight nod in return. “I’m gonna hold ya to it.”

“Okay,” Was Clay’s only response.

Sonny tried the shift the rock with a branch that was brought by with the flood waters, but it snapped. He couldn’t leave his brother to find another one. ‘Where the hell was the rest of Bravo?’

The water continued to climb and within minutes it was up to Clay’s chin. “Good God, where are you guys?” Sonny was holding Clay’s head above the water just as the rain began to fall. The thunder rumbled a little closer to their position.

Clay’s body continued to shiver, his eyes were drooping, and hypothermia was setting in. Sonny wasn’t a medic, but the pulse under his fingertips was becoming erratic. He wished Trent was here, but he wasn’t. There were so many problems that could arise, but he knew the coolness of the water that Clay’s been immersed in for just under two hours was a big problem, and to put that lovely cherry on top, the water was continuing to rise.

Though the water was only waist deep on Sonny when he stood, Clay would soon be completely under water from where he was trapped. The water was already lapping over his brother’s face. Clay began to cough as a small wave washed over his nose and mouth. Desperate blue eyes met Sonny’s, trying to say goodbye without using the words that Sonny was unwilling to hear.

Helpless and frustrated, Sonny could only hold Clay’s head as high as possible, but the water was continuing to rise relentlessly. It climbed the final half inch and Clay was completely submerged. His eyes closed in resignation.

“Clay!” Sonny took a deep breath, pinching Clay’s nose, he ducked under the water, his mouth closed over Clay’s, breathing precious oxygen into his brother’s lungs. 

Clay’s eyes flew open, peering through the murky water at Sonny. He understood what his brother was doing, and he didn’t know how long Sonny could keep this up. Clay knew that either Sonny would become exhausted and have no choice but to give up or Clay would lose consciousness from lack of oxygen and drown, but he had to let Sonny try or his brother would never be able to forgive himself.

It became a routine. Deep breath, submerge, Clay would exhale, and Sonny would breathe air into his brother, resurface and do it again and never-ending repeat.

Sonny was rapidly tiring. He was terrified; Clay was dying before his eyes and he was helpless to stop it. The younger man’s eyes drifted closed, “No Clay!” Sonny gasped. “Please stay with me! Don’t you give up!”

Sonny felt something hit the water next to him. He felt a hand rest on his shoulder. 

“Sonny, let me take over.” Sonny nodded, panting for air and backed away to let Jason in. He began to breathe for Clay.

Ray and Brock suddenly landed in the water beside Sonny. A moment later Blackburn followed. Trent knelt next to Clay, crowbar in hand and began feeling for the rock that had pinned Clay’s leg. Wedging the crowbar firmly under the boulder, it took Ray, Brock, Blackburn and Sonny putting their combined body weight to roll and lever the stone away. Unfortunately, Clay’s foot was still wedged between the rocks. Sonny dove under to feel around Clay’s foot.

With Clay’s leg finally free, Trent with Jason’s help was able to lift Clay’s head above the water. He moved in close to Jason but was making sure that he wasn’t getting in the way of Jason breathing for Clay. 

Trent checked the limp figure for any respiration and found none. “He’s not breathing!” Trent announced and quickly shifted Jason out of the way and took over breathing for Clay.

Sonny resurfaced. “I can’t get his foot out,” he gasped in panic. “It’s wedged too tight and I can’t turn it.”

Jason closed his eyes. “Break his ankle if you have to.” 

Sonny looked at Jason in shock. The quick inhales around him told him the rest of Bravo had heard the directive too.

“Sonny,” Jason said calmly, “The water is still rising. Clay needs help now. We need to turn that foot to free it. We can fix his ankle but not if he’s dead.”

Clay suddenly gasped and began to cough, then vomited the water he’d swallowed.

“I have spontaneous respiration!” Trent announced. “He’s breathing on his own.”

Blackburn moved to support Clay’s head while Ray and Brock climbed the rope to begin setting up Trent’s supplies to treat Clay.

Jason moved to Sonny’s side. “Do you want me to do it?” He asked, reaching to take the crowbar from the stricken Texan before him.

“No… I-I’ll do it.” Sonny gripped Clay’s hand briefly. “I’m so sorry Clay.” He dove down. A moment later, Clay’s back arced, and a scream of pain erupted from Clay’s lips and tore through the hearts of his brothers. Sonny resurfaced with a look of agony on his face.

Clay was gasping now as pain and the need for air competed for his attention. A few tears of agony seeped out from his tightly closed eyes. “S-Sonny,” he choked out, his hand blindly flailed out, somehow knowing his brother would be there for him.

“I’m here, Kid,” Sonny said as he grabbed the hand. “I’m so sorry, Bam Bam, but your foot was still trapped, and we had to get it free.” Sonny said with a few tears in his eyes at what he’d just had to do. He looked at the others and knew they would have done the same thing to free a brother.

“Let’s get him outta her,” Jason directed. Brock and Ray were already up top and lowered down the buoyant stretcher to the others. Trent quickly climbed up to join his teammates to help lift Clay up and begin treating him.

Jason, Sonny and Blackburn were quick to situate Clay into the buoyant stretcher and then strapped him in. “Take him up!” Blackburn yelled. They then watched as their teammates finally pulled him up and to safety. Now they just had to get him to the hospital.

They scrambled to climb up the rope to their teammates and already saw Trent starting to work on Clay. “What are we looking at Trent,” Jason asked as soon as he reached the top. Sonny followed more slowly, as he was exhausted and cold from the water, and Blackburn brought up the rear.

“Pretty sure the hypothermia is giving him ventricular tachycardia which could lead to hypoxia and ischemia. If blood flow to Clay’s brain decreases, it could cause seizures.” Trent laid it out the them without pulling any punches.

“Brock, cut his shirt open and dry his chest.” Trent ordered as he reached over to one of the bags and pulled out the EKG monitor. He then started putting on the EKG patches and hooking Clay up to the monitor. “Ray, get me a blood pressure reading.” Trent stated as he watched Ray wrap a BP cuff around Clay’s arm. Trent then reached for the oxygen tank situated in one of the bags and slipped the oxygen mask over Clay’s face.

With all that settled, Trent finally started to inform the team of what was going on with their brother. “He’s hypothermic and cyanotic. He vomited up some of that nasty water, so chances are he aspirated quite a bit of it. He wasn’t breathing when we got here, but now he’s breathing on his own and is semi-conscious.”

Trent reached for the stethoscope from Ray, stuck the earpieces into his ears, and listened to Clay’s breathing. “Pulse is fast and thready at 110, respirations are shallow, and I can hear rales in both lungs. What was his BP Ray?”

“BP was 100/60.” Ray said, ready to give Trent anything that he asked for.

Trent looked back at the EKG monitor to see how Clay’s heart was doing and carefully watched the lines going across the screen. “Ventricular tachycardia, let me get a lidocaine bolus on board before we head for the helo.”

Trent administered the medication and was rewarded as Clay’s heart rhythm began to return to normal, at least for the moment. “Sinus rhythm. Gonna start an IV of D5W to keep the vein open and I’m going to look at his leg. Can you guys begin wrapping him in blankets and we need to keep him as warm as possible until we get to the hospital.

Everyone started to reach for the blankets so they could wrap them around Clay and Trent moved down to Clay’s left leg.

“Definitely have a distal TibFib fracture at the ankle, and it looks like he has another fracture near the fibular head.” Trent had Brock come over to help him gently maneuver the limb into a splint for the helo ride.

Once Trent had the splint in place, the guys quickly covered Clay’s legs in more blankets. Trent turned to Blackburn, “Can you alert the hospital in San Pedro that we have a near freshwater drowning that’s hypothermic? They are going to need warmed fluids ready and waiting for him when we get there.”

Blackburn nodded and keyed his comms to inform Davis of what needed to be ready for when they touched down.

Jason looked at Trent. “You ready to move him?”

“Yep, ready to go.” Trent replied, doubling checking the blankets and all the equipment.

Bravo gathered around the stretcher and lifted Clay and started the hike to the helo. The closest the helo could get was about a quarter of a mile away, but it was better than having to hike 2 miles to get there.

They covered the quarter of a mile slowly, trying to jostle Clay as little as possible. With the heart monitor beeping out it’s reminder that Clay’s heart was anything but stable; the last thing they wanted was to bring on V-tach again. They met the helo and gently placed Clay on board. Everyone hopped on board, making sure Trent had plenty of room to work around Clay as needed. 

Now they just needed a smooth flight back to San Pedro to get Clay the help he needed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And Clay gets the help he needs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the conclusion! Hope everyone is well and safe!
> 
> Be on the lookout in about a week I'm guessing for another fic.
> 
> Enjoy!

The helo made a special landing in the parking lot for the hospital, so that Clay could get immediate treatment. As the helo touched down, a gurney was brought in under the rotors so that he could be transferred from the stretcher to the gurney.

Clay was rushed into the quiet Emergency Room with Trent following alongside the gurney. A nurse attempted to stop him at the door, but Trent ignored her and continued into the room.

Trent rushed to Clay’s side and took his one hand that they had left out to continue taking his blood pressure. He looked into exhausted blue eyes as he was transferred from the gurney to an exam table.

The doctor was speaking to the nurses in Spanish, but Trent could tell they were starting another IV with warmed fluids. A rasping couch erupted for Clay’s lips and the physician grabbed an endotracheal tube and laryngoscope to insert it. The physician was beginning to insert the airway, but Clay’s body was shivering so much that it was making the insertion difficult.

Trent spoke up, “Doc, he’s breathing okay. Why?”

“Warmed oxygen, sir. We need to get his core temperature back up. This will help warm him from the inside.” He explained in heavily accented English.

The physician turned to the nurse and barked orders in Spanish, but Trent knew in his mind what the physician would be ordering. He would be ordering a CBC, BUN, creatinine, sepsis panel, ABG and electrolytes. He was also ordering x-rays for Clay’s chest, head and his leg and ankle. Trent also observed the nurses cutting off Clay’s wet clothes and slipping heated blankets over him to warm him up. He cringed as he watched the nurse place a straight catheter for the UA.

As the physician with securing the airway and hooking up the warmed oxygen, he turned to Trent. “How long was he without oxygen?”

“I would guess about two minutes. My teammate was breathing for him for about five minutes before he lost consciousness. His foot was wedged, and Clay couldn’t keep his head above water. We had to break his ankle to get his foot out.” Trent explained the events.

“You did the right thing. We can fix an ankle and it looks like a nice clean break.” The physician explained as he looked at the splinted limb.

“I’ll tell Sonny. He’s the one that had to do it and it’s eating him up that he couldn’t save him without causing an injury.” Trent replied.

“I can talk to him.” The physician offered.

“I’m sure that the only person that can help him is lying on the table.” Trent smirked at the doctor.

The door opened and in came a radiology technician with a portable x-ray machine that looked almost fifteen years old. “Let’s update your team while he gets some x-rays.”

Trent moved his hand from Clay’s grip. The younger man groaned and tossed his head restlessly as his hand lifted weakly. Trent took his hand again and leaned close to Clay’s ear. “Hey Kid, I’m right here. I have to step into the hall for just a minute, but I’ll be right back, okay?” He reassured the younger man as he ran a hand through Clay’s soaked curls. Clay nodded tiredly and relaxed back onto the table and let his eyes drift closed.

***

True to Trent’s word, he updated the team on what the doctor was doing for Clay. As they waited for the test results, the physician was allowing someone from Bravo to sit with Clay while they re-warmed him.

After forty-five minutes, a young nurse dropped off the test results and x-rays. “Some of his levels are a little low, but that’s to be expected,” the physician told Trent, who was back in the treatment room with Clay. “Now, let’s look at your x-rays.”

The physician took them and tucked them into the light panel.

“Skull looks good, no fracture so he’s just concussed.” He snapped the leg and ankle films in. “Stable transverse fracture just distal to the fibular head and bimalleolar fracture in the ankle.” He snapped the last x-ray into the box and checked the chest film. After looking closely at it, he returned to the exam table and he grabbed his stethoscope and listened to Clay’s lungs. Trent was on his heels, stopping close to Clay’s head.

“I’m still detecting rales, but not nearly as bad.” The physician checked his temperature, which was up to 96 degrees, and then looked over to the EKG monitor that was showing sinus rhythm. Clay was still shivering, but his temperature was on the rise and getting closer to normal, and his color had greatly improved. Warm oxygen was still being pumped into him. The physician checked the IV’s that were running in both arms. The physician nodded in satisfaction before turning to Trent. “I think he’s gonna be just fine.”

Clay seemed to somehow sense when one of his brother’s was near because without opening his eyes, he weakly raised his arm, reaching for the hand he knew would be there. The young SEAL felt his hand grasped in a firm grip, and a cool hand rested on his forehead.

The physician and nurse were amazed by the rapport between these two teammates.

Trent bent down to Clay’s level and asked, “Hey Kid, you think you can stay with us this time?”

Clay’s blue eyes flickered open. His gaze traveled about the room settling briefly on the physician and nurse and then settled on Trent. His mouth curled tiredly at the corners, but the message was clear. 

The physician nodded. “I think we can take that out now.”

Clay gave him a tired nod.

The physician had the nurse prepare Clay for the extubation, while the physician explained to Clay what he was going to do. “I want you to cough for me while I remove it.

Clay nodded again. He had no trouble complying with the directive. Clay coughed harshly as the physician tugged the tube free. “Thirsty,” Clay rasped. Trent had a cup of water with a straw and held it for Clay to sip. “Thanks,” he whispered.

Trent moved around to his side and the physician raised the head of the bed. “When Sonny said the mission was anticlimactic, you didn’t need to make it difficult.” He teased.

“Sonny saved my life,” he said gratingly.

“You saved Gracie’s, so I think he would say you’re even.” Trent smiled at him.

At that time, Bravo team was let into the treatment room. He was hugged by almost everyone on the team, Blackburn and Lisa before he saw Sonny standing off to the side. Once everyone backed away so that Clay could see Sonny, he had a few words for him.

“You coulda been killed Sonny,” he said hoarsely.

“It was a sure bet you woulda been. You were worth the risk, Pretty Boy. Right at that time, there was nothing else I could do.” Sonny mumbled.

“But,” Clay tried to continue.

“No, no buts. Clay, do you really think I coulda just stood there and watched you drown? Would you have if it had been me?” Sonny explained.

“No, but you… and I…” Clay stammered, but then stopped as he began to cough harshly.

“What I’m sorry about is breaking your leg.” Sonny mumbled, not looking Clay in the eye.

“Sonny.” Clay hoarsely tried to get his attention, but Sonny refused to look at him.

“Sonny!” Clay almost shouted at the man but caused him to cough again.

Jason couldn’t stand these two. Biggest bromance ever. He rolled his eyes and nudged Sonny in the stomach with his elbow and when he looked up, nodded his head in Clay’s direction.

When Clay saw Sonny look up, he looked him into the eye. “I would have done the same thing if I was in your position. Same for any of us. What if Ray had to break Brock’s leg to save him? Would Brock be mad at Ray for saving his life?”

“Well, no.” Sonny mumbled.

“Nothing to forgive, brother.” Clay said as he held of a hand for Sonny to grab. Sonny reached for the hand and Clay pulled him into a hug. “Thank you for saving me.”

Sonny backed up and pretended no one could see the watery eyes that he was trying to hide.

At that point the physician step forward to update everyone on Clay’s condition.

“Sir,” the physician said, “We’ve got you stabilized, so we’re going to send you to orthopedics to cast your leg and then we’ll get you into a room so we can observe for Secondary Drowning. We’ll also be starting you on heavy doses of antibiotics to try and ward off any complications before they start. Your temperature is almost back to normal and your numbers are at the low end of normal. We will be keeping you for at least twenty-four hours.”

Clay nodded in resignation of yet another hospital stay in a foreign country.

***

A couple of hours later, Clay was finally resting in a hospital bed. The door cracked open and Bravo funneled in. Everyone was clean of mud and in a new set of clothes. He smiled at his family, “Who let you guys in?” he asked hoarsely.

“We come bearing an apology?” Jason stated.

Clay looked at them. “You guys don’t owe me any apology. If anything, I’m the one that owes the apology for getting us into that mess.”

Ray shook his head and smirked, “You don’t have an apology from us, you have an apology from the Patterson’s.”

“Charlie and Gracie are really apologetic that they went down into the riverbed and got hurt.” Jason explained.

“But I’m okay now.” He rasped out forgivingly. 

“No, you’re not,” Trent supplied. “You sound awful and your leg is broken.”

“And all of that will heal. It doesn’t matter anymore. The Patterson’s are safe.” Clay hoarsely stated.

“I would be angry if my kid did something like that,” Jason said. “I think you’re letting them off way to easy.”

“C’mon Jason. We were all that age once. I remember more than once my Grandfather wanting to tan my hide for some stunt I pulled.” Clay smirked.

“Can’t imagine you getting in trouble, Peter Pan,” Sonny quipped drily.

Clay shot him an irritated look as he coughs a little bit, and his eyes were beginning to droop in exhaustion.

Jason stepped toward the bed and ruffled Clay’s curly hair, who then tried to swat at the hand. “Alright boys, Clay needs his beauty sleep, and I know we have a few beers that we didn’t get a chance to drink.” Jason said as he started herding the team towards the door.

Before Trent exited, he turned back and said, “Oh and the doctor said it you don’t develop any complications, he might discharge you tomorrow.”

Clay grinned, but it faded as Trent continued, “As long as you get checked out by a base doc and someone stays with you at your apartment.”

“Yep, you are stuck with Sonny for a few days.” Jason said and he slapped Clay’s good foot on the way out the door.

Bravo team chuckled as they heard the groan from the room they just exited, but thankful that Clay was here to be able to groan.


End file.
